The SNP’s former justice secretary is under pressure to reveal details of a meeting with Scotland’s police chief just a week before Nicola Sturgeon resigned.
Keith Brown, who has been deputy leader of the SNP since 2018, met with Iain Livingstone, the chief constable of Police Scotland, on Feb 9, it has emerged.
Deputy Chief Constable Malcolm Graham also attended the meeting at the Scottish Parliament which was revealed through a Freedom of Information request by the pro-independence blogger Wings Over Scotland.
Police Scotland said it was a “regular meeting” and refused to reveal “any other business in terms of investigations that may or may not have been discussed” but on Thursday both the force and the Scottish government faced calls to confirm that no details of the fraud investigation into SNP finances were discussed.
The meeting came two weeks before Mr Livingstone handed in his resignation by presenting a paper to the Scottish Police Authority warning that policing north of the border was “unsustainable” and facing “unprecedented financial pressures”.
On Wednesday, Peter Murrell, the SNP’s former chief executive, was arrested as part of an inquiry into the party’s finances that is linked to more than £600,000 of donations.
It comes seven weeks after Ms Sturgeon announced she was stepping down as first minister and just a week after Humza Yousaf, her successor, took office.
Amid growing questions over the scandal, scrutiny has shifted towards whether anyone within the Scottish government was given advance notice that an arrest would be made as part of the investigation.
‘I believe that would have been illegal’
Alex Neil, the former SNP minister, said he was aware of the meeting but the government and police needed to categorically rule out whether the case had been discussed at all in advance of the arrest.
He said: “It’s fair to ask the question – was this issue discussed at that meeting – and I think they should at least confirm whether it was discussed.
“I would have thought they are duty bound to tell you what is discussed other than items covered by commercial confidentiality or for reasons of not notifying criminals of any discussions on particular issues, so they may well be hiding behind that. There has to be a categorical statement that no advanced notice was given.”
He added that if any information had been shared in advance or an agreement had been made to postpone the arrest it would be illegal.
“I’m not a lawyer but I believe that would have been illegal to give advance notice of anybody going to be charged or arrested and I think there needs to be clarification and confirmation from both the Scottish government and the police that there was no advance notice and secondly that there was no influence in terms of postponing the announcement from Police Scotland they were going to arrest Peter Murrell.
“We need confirmation that the timing of that was not influenced by the leadership or the timing of the leadership election for the SNP. Clearly if it didn’t happen, why would they not confirm it didn’t happen.”
Jackie Baillie, the deputy leader of Scottish Labour, said: “It’s clear this probe into the SNP goes much further than just Peter Murrell.
“It appears that Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and Keith Brown have many questions to answer.
“This investigation must continue. The people of Scotland deserve honesty and transparency from their leaders.”
Since July 2021, Police Scotland have been examining the SNP’s handling of more than £600,000 in donations raised in 2017 for a second independence referendum.
The second referendum never happened and some donors asked for their money back, saying they had been told the money would be ring-fenced for a referendum campaign.
It later emerged that in June 2021 Mr Murrell made a personal loan of £107,620 to the party to “assist with cash flow”, which is now also understood to be part of the investigation.
Mr Murrell was released without charge just before 7pm on Wednesday night, more than 11 hours after his arrest, pending further investigation.
Police remained outside the home of Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell this morning with three police vans parked outside and two uniformed officers stationed outside.
A large, blue tent remained in place in the front garden of the property, which has been screened off with blue police screens.
Ms Sturgeon cancelled a planned appearance at a climate change event in Edinburgh on Thursday evening, with her spokesman saying she wanted to “keep the focus of the event on the critical issue of the climate emergency”.